by Melissa Gomez
Senior Director of Development, Fiver Children's Foundation
and
Melissa McLeod, National Director of Strategic Partnerships
Summer Search

A year into co-chairing AFP-NYC’s Professional Advancement Committee (PAC), we have learned the most useful question in leadership isn’t “What’s next?” It's “Why?”

Melissa McLeod joined Melissa Gomez as co-chair last fall, stepping into a committee with a strong foundation and an established way of operating. Melissa G., the more tenured of the two, knew the current flow like the back of her hand. PAC was already producing programming that met the moment for our fundraising peers, so we began to build on that foundation.

As we planned our year, our conversations moved beyond which events to offer and what we hoped to achieve through each event. We began thinking more intentionally about who we wanted to serve, what members should gain from participating, and whether a different approach could create greater value.

We brought the same reflection toward our leadership. We divided our responsibilities around our individual strengths and shifts in capacity throughout the year. When Melissa M. was onboarding to a new role, Melissa G. made space to give more. When we had an event early in the morning, Melissa M. took the lead and supported Melissa G. as she navigated her morning routine as a new mom. Showing up for one another in these practical ways deepened the trust we needed to question the status quo and better define how we would lead together.

Sharing a first name has caused its fair share of confusion, mostly in committee email threads — ask anyone who has been copied on one. Somewhere along the way we began signing our messages MSquared, an ode to our shared name and partnership.

Asking “Why?” Before Deciding “What?”

Before we decide what session to offer, we pressure-test our thinking. Does it meet the moment? Will its value outlast the event itself? Does the room reflect the full breadth of New York City’s philanthropic community?

Continuity builds trust, and our existing community is the foundation for this. As we honor our existing community and expand who finds community and deepens their professional practice with us, we want our programming to speak to what fundraisers are navigating right now, deliver lessons that are timeless, and make space for the range of people doing this work across the city. That requires thinking about pricing and accessibility, but also about whether a young professional and a senior leader can enter the same room and both find something valuable. Those questions help us preserve what works while adapting our programming for the people it serves now.

How That Thinking Is Shaping Our Programming

Our first symposium of the year, Beyond the First Gift: Practical Strategies for Donor Retention, Growth, and Stewardship offered an early example. Across three sessions, experienced practitioners explored stewardship as a system rather than a series of thank yous, strategies for acquiring and growing monthly donors, and the shared responsibility of staff, boards, and volunteers in sustaining donor relationships.

The symposium shifted attention from the visible milestone of securing a gift to the systems and relationships required to sustain one. Attendees across career levels left with practical strategies, new connections and a reminder that donor relationships are strengthened through coordination among every team and stakeholder who touches them.

Originally designed with early-career professionals in mind, this program already had a strong foundation. Through discussions with our committee members, we saw an opportunity to widen its audience.

The same lens is shaping our Fall Fundamentals Symposium. Designed originally with early-career professionals in mind, this program already had a strong foundation and in discussion with our committee members we saw an opportunity to widen who it reaches.

Fundamentals matter when someone enters fundraising, but also when they pivot into the profession, step into management, inherit a team, or feel lost in an ever-changing fundraising landscape. That’s what shapes our next symposium, The Work Behind the Ask: Data, Decisions and Collaborations in Fundraising, on on October 28 at 9:30 a.m. at Scandinavia House.

One session tackles a question every leadership team eventually faces: which fundraising metrics actually predict future revenue. Knowing how to answer that question is valuable for all fundraisers: It allows a coordinator to plan smarter outreach, a manager to set an ambitious goal that is more than a guess, and a director to determine whether a gala or annual appeal actually moved the needle. Making data-informed decisions is work everyone in the room shares and work that changes what your day-to-day looks like. Another session looks at what it takes to collaborate across the organization — the coordination that turns a good plan into a funded one.

Participants at every career stage will leave with practical approaches for their daily work, no matter their title or team size. Join us October 28 to be part of the conversation.

Who Gets to Shape the Work

Growth for PAC means listening beyond the people already in the room. We want our committee, speakers, and participants to reflect the organizations, identities, career paths, and perspectives that make up philanthropy across New York City. We also aim to foster a place where our members can test new ideas and help shape professional development that reflects the field as it is and as it could be.

A year in, we have learned that challenging the status quo does not mean discarding what works. It means being willing to reconsider how we share the work, who gets to lead it, and who can see themselves in AFP-NYC programming. That is what MSquared has come to mean for us: a partnership that makes room for one another, empowers our committee members to lead, and invites more of New York City’s fundraising community into the work.

Not every established practice needs to change. But asking “why?” more often helps us distinguish what is worth preserving from what needs to evolve to make room for what matters.

Yours truly,

MSquared

Melissa Gomez is a Brooklyn native and seasoned fundraising professional with more than 18 years of experience rooted in empathy, strategy, and mission‑driven leadership. She currently serves as Senior Director of Development at Fiver Children’s Foundation, overseeing all fundraising and marketing initiatives. Melissa is an alum of Youth Inc.’s Rise Academy for Leaders of Color and serves on the AFP NYC board, where she co‑chairs the Professional Advancement Committee and contributes to the Audit and IDEA Committees.

A new mom after a long IUI/IVF journey, she is passionate about advocating for equitable workplace policies for women and caregivers. Outside of work, Melissa enjoys music, travel, writing, and wrestling, remains a loyal Knicks fan, and proudly reps the BeyHive. She lives in the northeast Bronx with her husband, Cecilio, and daughter, Lively.

Melissa McLeod (she/her) is the National Director of Strategic Partnerships at Summer Search, where she leads institutional fundraising strategy and team across a national portfolio. A first-generation Jamaican American and first-generation college graduate, she brings over a decade of experience in nonprofit leadership, revenue growth, and cross-sector collaboration. Her career spans public health, housing, youth development, and food justice, giving her a grounded understanding of the structural barriers communities face and what it takes to move resources toward them. She holds a Master of Public Health from CUNY and a Certificate in Community Leadership and Social Change from the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. Outside of work, she loves travel, global motorsport, and is currently learning Italian.